SBI World Cup Man of the Match: Mario Götze

When Mario Götze replaced Miroslav Klose in the 88th minute of Sunday’s FIFA World Cup Final, he replaced one of the most historic players in tournament history.

In the 113th minute, Götze made history himself.

The 22-year-old forward took a cross from André Schürrle off his chest and fired it past Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero to give Germany a 1-0 lead in extra time. It was the goal kids all over the world dream about, the one they score in their backyards and at local parks hundreds of times during their childhood; it was the goal that won the World Cup.

For his part in winning Germany’s fourth World Cup, Götze earns the SBI Man of the Match award. He wins the award over teammate Jerome Boateng and Argentina’s Javier Mascherano, who both played a big part in the match staying scoreless for so long.

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Does Götze deserve the Man of the Match award, in your opinion? Would you have given it to someone else?

Boateng was excellent, although Schweinsteiger was MOTM up until the goal. Goetze’s finish was brilliant; it was a great cross through 2 defenders but he still needed great touch to convert. Great goal to end a great Cup.

The real question that comes to my mind is how did Messi get awarded player of the tournament?…there were clearly other players who deserved that trophy …like Jaime Rodriguez..good old FIFA always trying to sell thier poster boy

It was utter comedy. Argentina scored a solitary goal in the final three rounds of the competition (and it wasn’t Messi, whose ulitmately limited contribution came at the expense of the likes of Iran and Nigeria). That a purely attacking player from such a team would win the Golden Ball is just laughable. If they wanted to choose an Argentina player, Demichelis and Mascherano were both more deserving. I’d barely rate Messi in the top 10 for the tourament. He was utterly ineffective against any sort of quality opposition.

All those player’s you mentioned kept the game 0-0, Goetze’s masterful piece actually won it for Germany. Besides, he did bring a positive change after coming on as Germany created more meaningful chances with all the possession they had.

I would add Neuer to the list. The guy is far and away the most intimidating goalie in the tournament. His mobility and power intimidated Argentina, including Messi. Great games from Boateng, Shweini, and Ozil. BTW Jeff Carlisle at ESPN couldn’t grade kindergarten homework. Dude must be legally blind.

According to me the replacement made by Germany manager Joachim Low in the 88th minute of the game was very beneficial for them. I think the confidence he showed in Mario Gotze was excellent and eventually he did the job for Germany in the final minutes.